T Diddy :: Your Friendly Black Dentist

Tracy and I took a road trip to North Carolina. The purpose of this trip was to scout our the state and 3 prospective cities for the possibility of making them our residence once I graduate from school and once again becoming a real man. We visited Raleigh, Charlotte, and Asheville. This trip was our second installment of our city tours as we are looking for that special place to live and raise a family. The first was Albuquerque. It was nice, but it did not wow us. Needless to say we were looking forward to visiting Raleigh to see if all the hype was real.

Let me just say that I am sold the Raleigh area and it Research Triangle. Tracy, on the other hand, want to move down their immediately. Fortunately for me, I am married to her. If I were not, I would be without a woman. Before I expand on Raleigh, I should mention that the entire state is beautiful and clean. Unlike the Silicon Valley, there are trees lining all the roads and highways. There is not a proliferation of concrete and billboard signs. Charlotte was nice, but it was another large city. Asheville is a retirement city and is in the mountains. It reminds me of a poor man's Santa Fe with its quaint restaurants and art galleries. I could not live here, but I could diffinitely go to get away and rest. It is that beautiful.

Now, lets talk about Raleigh. First, let talk about the housing. The homes were simply beautiful and affordable. You can buy a lot more house for you money. We arranged to have a realtor to show us the area. He took us to see houses in our anticipated price range in 2 years. I was so amazed of the value. $500,000 houses were homes that I would be content to remain in my entire life. These homes compared to $2,000,000 homes in Palo Alto. The homes are brand new and included: 4 bedrooms. 1 large bonus room, 1 office, 3 bathrooms, 1 large fished basement or attic, 4,000 + sf, and hardwood floors. Simply stated, they were wonderful and they have me salivating over the prospects. To view these homes, click here.

In addition to the great homes, the city is clean and the people are so friendly. I am not sure I saw one piece of trash on the ground. There are trees everywhere and the traffic was not that bad. People said, "Hello" with a smile. They were courteous and very gracious. This is a major change from the Philadelphia treatment. The public school system is superior and there are number of fine higher educational institutions all within 30 miles of this area. It is a perfect place to raise a family.

I can go on and on about this Raleigh and the nearby cities of Cary and Chapel Hill. However, I just cannot do it justice with my keyboard and this blog. All I know is that Tracy and I are planning to move there the day after I graduate. I will be trying to recruit as many people as possible to be my neighbor. In my opinion, this area will be very difficult to surpass when it comes to raising a family and the cost/standard of living. After all, this is what it is all about.

There is a new alternative to DVD rentals. No longer will I have to go to Blockbuster and stand in line. Nor will I have to pay $18/month to Netflix. Unlimited movies for 1 price is great, but the truth is that I do not have time to watch $18 worth of movies in a given month. I do enjoy a good home DVD, but as I continue to mature, the time that I can devote to my precious couch to divulge into the emotion of the current scene is no longer abundant. What is a man to do when he does not want to pay $4 for a movie that he really does not want to watch from Blockbuster? Well, he is to download the movie directly to his Tivo.

You read correctly. Tivo teamed up with Amazon.com to allow Tivo users to rent a movie from Amazon by directly downloading it to any tivo that they may own. The cost is only $3.99 /movie. This is cheaper and more convenient than any other option if you only have time to watch 1 movie each weekend. I typically do not, which makes this option great. All you do is register, search for a movie, and click rent. In no time, you will have the movie in your "now Playing" list. The great thing about it is that they have most of the recent new releases. Also, if you want to, you can purchase the movie too. However, I save Target for my purchases.

Let me give you an example. This Friday night, after a long week, Tracy and I went to dinner. This is our typical routine as Friday is our date night. However, unlike most weekends, I recommended that we watch a DVD. I simply searched for The Illusionist, pointed, and clicked. We went to dinner and returned. As we plunged on the couch, I turned on the TV, opened up Tivo, and there it was; our movie. No traffic, no lines, and no movie that I did not want to watch. It was too simple. I am now a fan and will most likely rent movies like this more often than not. It is plus that I received a $15 credit for just signing up. That is 3.5 movies before I have to pay a dime. If you own a real TIVO, I recommend you sign up for the $15 credit and experience it for yourself.